Author's Note: I had planned to make this a one-shot, but I've had so many lovely reviews, that I thought I'd see what else I could come up with. This chapter ran away with me! I hope you don't mind.
Now, I would LOVE to buy this series, or download this series, or anything really, but since I live in the US, the DVDs on Amazon will do me no good. And I figured out yesterday (when I downloaded the scripts)(Thank you, BBC!) that YouTube doesn't have the beginning of episode 4 or 5, and episode 1 is all buggered up. I tried Putlocker today, but could only find episodes 1-4. It says they have all five, but episode 1 is in there twice. Does anybody have a secret source where I can get a hole of these bad boys intact? I'd be ever-so-grateful.
Anyway, they're still not mine. Although, if anyone knows where I can find a Captain James of my own, that'd be shiny. Still don't sue me.
Chapter Two: Heaven and Earth
It was two days later, during PT, that the proverbial cat almost came out of the bag. They were jogging around the base, and Smurf spotted Molly's new ink.
"What's this then?"
Molly shrugged, trying to be casual. "I got it while I was in London."
He squinted at her arm. "'Rosabaya.' What's that mean?"
Come on, Mols! Think fast!
"It's a-" What? Rock band? Spiritual leader? Shit!
"Smurf!" James' voice broke through her anxious thought process.
Smurf immediately focused on the Captain's stern visage. "Sir?"
"If this is too easy on you, Smurf, I can come up with something much more taxing to keep you in shape."
Smurf paled a little at this. "No, sir."
"Then focus up, Smurf."
"Yes, sir."
Molly knew the respite from his questions wouldn't last.
The occasionally smooth and endearing tones of the man who had captured her heart were neither as he bellowed, "Stay with me... Just because you're tucked up all snug and safe in Bastion, does not mean you are no longer real soldiers! Now dig in!"
Two section all groaned, but tried to put on a little more speed.
She eyed him, lounging in the jeep, drinking his coffee. She wondered if it was Rosabaya.
"Give us a lift, boss."
"You'd only be cheating yourself, Dawes."
Damn. It had been worth a shot.
"Oh by the way, the last one over the finish line is on 'latrine clean'! Now come on!"
She was absolutely certain she saw a demonic gleam in his eye when he said that. He was enjoying the hell out of this. Little did he know that they had a plan.
They were closing in on the finish line when she saw that arse, sitting patiently on the hood of the jeep, without a care in the world. He was even letting Kinders do the bellowing now.
"Moll... fellas... if this is all the effort you're going to put in, we can do a 5k run every morning and a 10k run every evening until you do not look like the unfit rabble you look like today. Can we remember we are the British Army!"
Well, maybe he could still bellow if he was going to deliver one last jab.
"The last soldier past me is gonna be on... latrine clean!"
And with that, Two section's plan went into action. Those at the front slowed a bit and she hauled ass, so they passed their smirking Captain at the same time.
A grin rather than a smirk split his face open as he said, "Very clever, Two section, indeed." James glanced proudly at his corporal. "I think our work here is almost done."
Since returning to Bastion, Molly had been in search of a new sanctuary. The roof of the shitter being no longer available, that night she went on a hunt. Surely in the diminishing ranks of buildings, she could find a roof where she could have a bit of peace. Some days, these boys did her nut in.
And some days they were her saving grace. Molly remembered the trip back to Bastion with a shudder…
0600. They were loading their kits into the mastiff, ready to bid farewell to the FOB for good. Molly turned and memories flooded her brain. Singing with the boss, watching the boss work out, the boss in his paddling pool, tending the bosses' blisters. She sensed a theme. God help her, she was so gone over him. He stepped into her view with his own Bergen, and she smiled. He smiled that marvelous smile back at her and gesture with his head that she should get a move on.
The comfortable feel of the morning was interrupted once when she saw only the boys were going to school, and again when they came across Sohail, badly beaten and abandoned in the middle of the road. Molly had moved up with James as he scanned for IEDs. She was damned if she was going to let him go out there alone.
The shit day had gone tits up when Sohail, back in Bastion and being treated for his wounds, said that he'd been beaten with rocks for refusing to kill Molly herself.
The tears had welled in her eyes as he'd gone into cardiac arrest. The nurses wheeled him out of the room while Molly tried not to be sick on the floor. The Taliban had a fucking hit out on her! What the fuck could be done about that?!
Just as the panic threatened to bring her to her knees, he'd met her eyes. Boss man was right in front of her, warm and gentle hands on either side of her face, brown eyes grounding her and bringing her breathing under control. And when he put his forehead to hers, everything else vanished. It was the two of them in a world of calm, and she could have stayed there forever.
When the boys had heard about the threat to "their girl," they had closed ranks. She now had a whole section of angry and armed older brothers watching her back. Plus, of course, one bad-ass captain.
Molly shook her head, and found herself once again trying to find somewhere to watch the stars for a bit.
"Dawes."
A step behind her, falling in, and a beloved voice.
"Sir."
"Why on earth aren't you in bed yet, Dawes?"
"Needed to think a bit."
He tried to read her face in the darkness. "Are you still fretting about that?"
"The Taliban takes a hit out on you, I think you get to brood a bit, sir, yes." She stopped and turned to him. "Can you tell me it doesn't bother you at all?"
That line appeared between his brows and he ran a hand through his hair, a sure sign that he wasn't nearly as unperturbed as he claimed. "We're paying very close attention to the intel, and keeping our ears to the ground. We'll keep you as safe as we bloody well can…. That being said, as your captain, I have a responsibility to get you home in one piece and I will do my damnedest to make sure that happens. As… as the man who…" he glanced up, almost shyly. "As the man who loves you, I will move heaven and earth to keep you safe."
More than anything else in the world, she wished she could kiss him right now. This wonderful, glorious, heroic, dashingly handsome man had somehow fallen in love with her. Maybe it was fate and fluke and chance, but it didn't matter.
Molly realized she was staring at him, mouth agape. She snapped it closed and took a step closer to him. "I'm so desperate to kiss you right now, I don't know what to do with myself." He laughed one of his adorable laughs. "I've been in love with you for so long, I'm not sure when it started."
"My stilettos remark?" He smirked.
She snorted. "No, you wanker, not then."
A grin. "Perhaps when I called you our Doris? Or when I made the jab about speed-dating?"
"Huh, you were a right arse to me, weren't you?"
He stepped forward. "Yes, yes, I was. I should apologize for that."
Molly did notice he had the grace to look a little chagrined.
An utterly wicked grin crossed her face. "I'm sure I can think of a way for you to make it up to me."
She had the pleasure of watching his eyes darken as many ideas passed through the gutter that currently was his brain.
"Oh, I can think of many ways." His voice had dropped to a register she'd never heard before and she found she liked it very much indeed.
The sound of a door opening and shutting not too far away from them, brought Captain James back to his army-issued senses. He cleared his throat and backed up a few paces. A sigh. "Sadly, those thoughts will have to see us through a bit longer."
She sighed too. "Right. We're waiting out. So we don't endanger the mission and each other. And the men." Molly found it helped to say it out loud. It brought her simmering blood under some control.
"'Men' is a generous term for those cockwombles."
A laugh burst out of her and he thought she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. This wasn't fucking helping.
Still snickering, she said, "Well, then, I'm off to my pit."
"Will you be asleep before the springs hit the floor?"
"Maybe not tonight." Shit. Badrai was never far from her mind.
Fuck, he'd meant to let that sleeping dog lie. "Don't worry about it, Dawesy. We'll keep you safe."
She smiled at the term of endearment. Mission accomplished, he thought.
Side by side, they started a leisurely stroll back to the quarters.
"And if you're looking for a new 'shitter,' Dawes, you can always watch the stars from my roof."
"Is that one of those euphe-thingies, boss?"
A quiet laugh. "No, Dawes. It's not a euphemism."